Beasts of Passion
by PfenixB
Summary: Warning before you enter- this is dialogue only. "Let us find dawn in the flame. My hand is yours." Not really slash unless you want it to be.


Well, look at me! Different characters for once. *shudder*

Warnings: Cheese, symbolism taken to the extreme, other fun things like that.

Anyway, this is a random Seph/Gen conversation, co-written with calvi_sama on LJ. Also a roleplay, and all dialogue this time. We were challenging ourselves by taking away the descriptive writing. Hope the style doesn't bother you...

I was Sephiroth, because...*shrug* Oh! 'Cause calvi writes a better Genesis than I do^^

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"Has anyone ever told you that you walk like a woman?"

"Excuse me?"

"I was only asking a question."

"And I was answering with a question."

"I hardly think I need to explain myself."

"Then don't. I don't care."

"Then why do you continue to glare at me?"

"Why do you insist on smirking at me?"

"You wouldn't know I was smirking if you weren't looking."

"I don't have to look to know you're smirking as my skin positively crawls when you do."

"If you must know, it has little to do with you."

"And I cannot believe that you are so dense as to not realize the folly of saying that and then expecting me not to take the bait, Sephiroth."

"I've just received a letter from Angeal."

"And the news?"

"Apparently the new puppy is not as easy to train as we believed he would be."

"Oh? Now you have my attention. What 'ails' the new pet?"

"Seems he's homesick. Angeal found him drawing what he declared "a piece of Gongaga" on his bedroom wall."

"That's pitiful, Seph. I mean, why apply to SOLDIER if you cannot even leave your village?"

"He's young, Genesis, and was not raised as we were. I believe most children are attached to their homes."

"I can't possibly imagine why. Reminders of your childhood and unrealistic expectations. Hmph, the sooner a child is removed from such an environment, the better!"

"Hm. I am still in my childhood environment, yet I have no attachment to this place. Perhaps one must leave to feel such things..."

"Oh, please. Waxing philosophical, are we? It doesn't suit you."

"I only wish to understand what it is that possess people to do what they do."

"Wish in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up faster. Seph, you'll be searching for the rest of your life for something you'll NEVER acquire. The sooner you understand that, the better off you'll be."

"You're beginning to sound like Hojo."

"You put me in the same sentence as Hojo again, and you will not live to regret it, Sephiroth."

"If you do not want to be compared to him, do not treat me as he does. As for living to regret it, I think we have learned over the years that I neither die nor regret."

"Hmph, nor do you love or appreciate. Beauty is lost on you, Seph. And I shall continue to treat you in such a manner until you begin to think for yourself."

"I appreciate beauty on the rare occasion that it presents itself."

"And true beauty cannot be appreciated scientifically. It is felt, and since you cannot feel, then you will never appreciate it."

"Is it so wonderful to feel?"

"Wishing, again, are we?"

"Only curious. If I am nothing but a knowledge-seeking being, as you say, then I surely cannot feel enough longing to bother wishing, nor am I so naive that I believe in wishes."

"Do you mind if I sit? Thank you. You amuse me, Sephiroth. Strangely, I consider you my friend, though how by the Gods that happened I'll never know, nor do I wish to. But I'd like to think that there is more to you than cold science. Is it so wonderful to feel? Yes, yes it is. Do you see my rapier here? Feeling is like this blade: double-edged; joy and sorrow, peace and rage, pleasure and pain. The passion of each of them consumes us and so shapes who we are...and what we do."

"Why would anyone want to be consumed by a feeling? Such a thing sounds as if it would leave one powerless. No, passion is not necessary for a fulfilling life."

"Ah, but there you are wrong! Passion _is_ necessary for a fulfilling life, don't you see? If you can control it, use it, passion gives you more power than you could ever imagine! Instead of the machine you are in battle, you would be a god!"

"I would prefer first to be considered human, thank you."

"Tch, you were never human to begin with, Sephiroth, so don't even bother trying now."

"You should leave before I compare you to him again. That moment is dangerously close."

"Yes, well, silly of me to worry about that actually, since his standards are all you care to live up to. Compare me if you must, I care not anymore."

"What do I care for his standards? I do not want for myself what he wants for me. You know that, Genesis."

"Ah, so you _are_ capable of lowering yourself enough to use my name after all. No, Sephiroth, I'm not sure that I do any longer. You go to such great lengths to put distance between you and those around you, and you don't even realize that you do it. Tell me, O Great and Terrible General Sephiroth, what does the magnificent Demon of Wutai care about? Is he even able to care, I wonder?"

"Why associate myself with those who refuse to do anything but look up to me? I can live up to their expectations, but not my own. If that is my purpose, to please them, why care for them? They do not care for me. No one cares for me. It seems that is easier, so I return the favor."

"How sad. How sad that you do not see it. Even now, you seek to protect yourself by walls and distance, even as you make yourself vulnerable. 'His weakness revealed unto the eyes of the righteous, his hand extended in plea - only to have Her gift drawn away as he has not proven his worth...' Do you truly believe that none cares for you?"

"Pretty lines will get you nothing. Who cares for me? You have just stated quite clearly that you do not. Who else is so frivolous that he would waste time on such a pathetic creature as myself, neither human nor passionate?"

"Hm. My 'pretty lines' do a remarkable job of explaining everything. Have you even read it? And what I do not care for is the creature that you are becoming. A pet of ShinRa, a parrot for Hojo - he sculpts you even now for his own purposes. Do not underestimate a being devoted to lies. There was a time, once, my friend, when you embraced life for the gift that it was. And now, I weep for his death. And yet, I love you still."

"Love, you say. Love. It was not so long ago, my_ friend_, that you insisted such a thing did not exist."

"Then let me be blunt, my _dear_ General. There was not a day that went by that I wouldn't have given my life for you, without question. Yes, I loved the figure that you were, what you stood for; but what claimed my heart and holds it still, is that man that I grew to know: the heart behind the silver hair and the green eyes, and the Goddess-blessed soul behind the fearsome blade, Masamune. Have I been selfish? Oh yes, yes I have been selfish. Selfish in wanting you for my own - to cherish, as you so richly deserved, because no other could come close enough to touch you, for fear of being burned by your cold beauty. Where is that man, Sephiroth? Where is that man that I love? Or will you curse me to love a ghost, and avenge a phantom lost?"

"If I say I cannot find him, will you avenge him? Will you kill this body that stole his place? No, no; it matters not. I know where he is. He has not died, Genesis, but he is barely breathing. Do you _wish_ to revive him?"

"Is that something he wants? I would do it for myself, but I would lose him again, this is truth. I would take him away if he desired it - right now, if he were not already dead. You toy with me, Sephiroth, and you shall get burned. Your fate is not restricted to the machinations of one madman. It will not be _my_ blade that takes your life, of that I am certain. I need no poem to show me that. No, I will outlive you, Sephiroth, and in the end, it will be my passion that sustains me."

"He has not died. He wants to live, but such a fragile creature has no place in this world. Tell me, you with your passion and knowledge of the world- do I grant him his chance? Do I allow you to rescue him from the brink of death? Resurrect a mere man and lose a monster? Yes, I think he deserves that much. Do you agree?"

"Every creature has a place in this world, even the monster that is a man. And who better to love that man than another monster? Take my hand, Sephiroth, and allow me to show you such passion that death would be a blessing. Hmh, but such questions. Only you can answer them. My opinion has never mattered to you, so when you ask if I agree and I said 'yes', what would you decide, in the end? Would you take my hand as I offer it to you now, or would you choose the sword and a preordained destiny?"

"If you offer your hand, I will remove my mask, and with it, my glove. Can you bear to touch such a hand? Consider all it has done."

"No more than has done mine. I've seen this hand do such terrible things, and yet I have seen it redeemed. What mask do you wear that is not also mine own? Have we not known enough pain? It may be that you kill me with this hand, Sephiroth, but I would die knowing that it was for something that has given me such joy, and so I would pass unto the Lifestream with an unburdened heart. But I would choose that you stay that hand, and instead embrace me. Show me a dawn when all I have seen is darkness, and so I would gladly kiss that hand, if you could but show me the sun."

"Shall we fly into the sun, then, as Icarus? No doubt we will meet the same end, and drown in an ocean of passion I have long forgotten to appreciate. Yes, let us find the dawn in the flame. My hand is yours."


End file.
